Racquetball Chronicles 8

I skipped reporting one session; we played two games of cutthroat and one singles game. In that, I played too passively in the first cutthroat game and the player I felt was the weakest of the three actually won.

In the singles game, I was against someone who has competed at a high level in the Oregon games and at least gave him a game, actually leading 13-12 before fading. He is too quick and I could not score off passing shots...which means I MUST develop an effective kill shot.

He did say he thought I was a really strong "C" level player so I feel good about that. He also strongly complimented my court positioning and ability to get to way more balls that I should.

The seco0nd cutthroat game I was ahead 14-8-4 when I stopped serving and started lob serving. This was residue of my game with T-mat. I never scored another point...

I am not a huge fan of cut throat. I do not go after the ball as aggressively and do not feel there is enough action. But I enjoy it enough to play again.

Anyhow, tonight I played Mr. J, the first guy I played.

The first two games showed just how far I have come. When I first started playing back on Dec 5th, scoring 6 points in a game was a great game for me.

Tonight I absolutely wrecked him in the first 2 games 15-3, 15-3...and neither one was that close.

First off, my serve is much, much better. I can consistently blast it down the wall into his backhand. Second, as he cheats further and further over, I just blast it into the opposite corner...his forehand, a right-handers backhand. And he is so far cheated towards the corner I typically serve to it is a virtually guaranteed ace.

Second, the serve that I initially could not return...low to my backhand corner...I returned every one including several outright winners and even the returns that were not winners drove him to the far back corner, allowing me to spring into my beloved mid court position.

Even when he hit solid shots that SHOULD have been winners, I was so quick I was getting to them and driving him to the back with passing shots wherever he wasn't. He was getting frustrated at his inability to get a ball past me.

So in serves, serve returns, court positioning and passing shots I was dominating. He hit more kill shots, but both games were absolutely devastating.

I could see he was getting down and that is not my intent so I did a couple things. First, I made sure to tell him a simple truth....he was inches away from every game being a competitive game. Hit the ball an inch lower and it is an impossible to return kill shot...hit it an inch closer to the ground from the back and I have to hit a defensive shot.

I also started experimenting...working on my z-serve, hitting fewer shots to the "ace" corner, etc. It is like practicing while playing a game. At one point I was ahead 12-8 and when he went to serve it was 8-11. I was okay with that. He scored one and at 11-9 we had about a half dozen service turns apiece.

He then scored a couple, I scored a couple...and relaxed thinking I could win the game at will. I did not use my advantages...speed, aggressiveness, and an attempt to get to every ball. He scored. He scored again. Suddenly it was 14-13, his lead. He served, I returned it, was set up to kill the point and win on my service turn when he hit his best shot of the night, a perfect kill shot.

Oops. Legitimately I should have won but got outplayed down the stretch when I relaxed and he took a hard-earned, well-deserved victory. Because the truth is, he tried harder and that is better play.

Also a lesson well learned.

All told it was a lot of fun and a great benchmark for me to see how far I have come.